A hard drive sitting on your bookshelf might be useful for storing your data, but it is not reliable or secure enough for long-term preservation (memory or USB sticks are even worst). For safer options to preserve data, see our guide on how to store & archive your research data (whether digital or not).

If you really need to use an external hard drive, here are a few emergency tips for taking care of your drive and make sure that you can still read the data in the coming years.

At the minimum you should: (more…)